Method and appartus for admission control in a radio communications system

ABSTRACT

A method for admission control in a radio communications system that includes determining a quality of service (QoS) type of a service according to a QoS property of the service, determining a service satisfaction ratio of services that belong to the determined QoS type according to a result of the determining a QoS type, comparing the determined service satisfaction ratio with an admission threshold, and admitting the service if the determined service satisfaction ratio is greater than or equal to the admission threshold. An apparatus for admission control in the radio communications system is also provided. With the embodiments in the present disclosure, the resource utilization may be accurately calculated, and the admission control algorithm may be more easily developed and maintained.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/CN2009/070219, filed on Jan. 20, 2009, which claims priority toChinese Patent Application No. 200810065627.X, filed on Jan. 23, 2008,both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to the radio communications field, and inparticular, to an admission control technology.

BACKGROUND

Among the radio resource management algorithms in a radio communicationssystem, an admission algorithm is a basic radio resource managementalgorithm. An admission algorithm determines whether to allow a newservice call request for establishing a connection according to the cellload condition. The cell load is a relatively abstract concept and hasdifferent meanings in radio communications system using differenttechnologies.

In a traditional radio communications system such as the global systemfor mobile communications (GSM) and R99 of the wideband code divisionmultiple access (WCDMA), “dedication” is the main idea of resourceallocation. When a user accesses a system and resources are allocated tothe user, the resources are occupied by the user so long as the userdoes not disconnect the connection. Therefore, resource utilization canbe used to represent the cell load. Taking the power resource as anexample, if the actual output power of a base station is more than 90%of the maximum output power, the cell load is considered high. If theactual output power of a base station is less than 90% of the maximumoutput power, the cell load is considered low. In addition, because theresources are dedicated, the resources may be predicted. That is, thequantity of resources occupied by a new user accessing the system may bepredicted according to the current system load condition.

With the evolution of technologies, “sharing” replaces “dedication” andbecomes the main trend of resource allocation. After a user accesses thesystem, the quantity of resources occupied by the user may be determinedby a scheduling algorithm, allocated according to the actual need, andbalanced according to the priority. In this case, it is improper to usethe resource utilization to represent the cell load condition.

Some examples are described herein. Numerous single link enhancedtechnologies have been introduced in the long term evolution (LTE). Forexample, the adaptive code modulation algorithm may adjust the codemodulation scheme on a real-time basis according to the channel qualityand power requirements, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) mayimplement space multiplexing by using multiple antennas, and theautomatic repeat request (arq) and hybrid automatic repeat request(HARQ) form a hierarchical retransmission. Under the influences of thesealgorithms, “sharing” becomes more and more powerful and flexible.However, the amount of resources used by the same service and even thetotal amount of available resources may vary to a large degree. Due tothe influences of several factors, the calculation of resourceutilization becomes complex and inaccurate. Thus, it is no longer properto perform admission control on services based on the resourceutilization.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and an apparatusfor admission control in a radio communications system to avoid complexand inaccurate calculations of resource utilization. In addition, themethod and apparatus may be easily developed and maintained.

A method for admission control in a radio communications system includesdetermining a quality of service (QoS) type of a service according to aQoS property of the service, determining a service satisfaction ratio ofservices that belong to the determined QoS type according to a result ofthe determining the QoS type, comparing the determined servicesatisfaction ratio with an admission threshold, and admitting theservice if the determined service satisfaction ratio is greater than orequal to the admission threshold.

An apparatus for admission control in the radio communications systemincludes a determination unit configured to determine a quality ofservice (QoS) type of a service that initiates a call request accordingto a QoS property of the service and an admission control unitconfigured to determine a service satisfaction ratio of services thatbelong to the determined QoS type according to a result of thedetermination unit, compare the determined service satisfaction ratiowith an admission threshold, and admit the service if the servicesatisfaction ratio is greater than or equal to the admission threshold.

By using the method and apparatus provided in embodiments of the presentdisclosure, service admission control is performed according to theservice satisfaction ratio of different QoS types of services. Thus,complex and inaccurate calculations of resource utilization are avoided,which complies with the end-to-end QoS guarantee concept, and theparameter configuration is simplified. In addition, the admissioncontrol algorithm provided in embodiments of the present disclosure maybe independent of lower layer algorithms (e.g., power control algorithmand scheduling algorithm), so that any change of the lower layeralgorithms will not affect the implementation of the admission controlalgorithm in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Thus, theadmission control algorithm may be easily developed and maintained. Inaddition, complex and inaccurate predications may be avoided, and thenetwork performance may be better monitored. Further, the admissioncontrol algorithm is more persuasive for the operators.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To make the technical solution under the present disclosure clearer, theaccompanying drawings for illustrating the embodiments of the presentdisclosure or the prior art are outlined below. Apparently, theaccompanying drawings are exemplary only, and those skilled in the artcan derive other drawings from such accompanying drawings without anycreative effort.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for admission control in a radiocommunications system in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for admission control in the radiocommunications system in another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows a structure of an apparatus for admission control in theradio communications system in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows a structure of an apparatus for admission control in theradio communications system in another embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 shows a structure of an apparatus for admission control in theradio communications system in another embodiment of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 6 shows a structure of an apparatus for admission control in theradio communications system in another embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed descriptions are directed to the technicalsolutions of embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to theaccompanying drawings of the embodiments. However, the embodiments to bedescribed are only part of, rather than all of, the embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Those skilled in the art can derive otherembodiments from the embodiments given herein without making anycreative effort, and all such embodiments are covered in the protectionscope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for admission control in a radiocommunications system according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The method includes the following steps.

S101: Determine the QoS type of a service.

The QoS type of the service that initiates a call request is determinedaccording to the QoS property of the service.

S102: Determine the service satisfaction ratio of services that belongto the determined QoS type and admit the service whose servicesatisfaction ratio is greater than or equal to an admission threshold.

The service satisfaction ratio of services that belong to the QoS typeis determined according to the determination result in S101. Thedetermined service satisfaction ratio is compared with a presetadmission threshold. The service whose service satisfaction ratio isgreater than or equal to the admission threshold are admitted. Thus,complex and inaccurate calculations of resource utilization are avoidedwhich complies with the end-to-end QoS guarantee concept, and thenetwork performance can be enhanced.

All supported services in the radio communications system are classifiedinto different types according to the QoS properties of the services.The types are known as QoS types. For example, there may be five typesof services, namely, voice service, streaming service, high delaysensitive interactive service, guaranteed bit rate (GBR) service, andbest effort service. The methodology for calculating the servicesatisfaction ratio for different QoS types is described below. Thereexists a plurality of methods that may be utilized to calculate theservice satisfaction ratio for each QoS type. Examples are as follows.

1. Voice Service

The voice quality of the voice services may be represented by a meanopinion score (MOS). For example, the perceptual evaluation of speechquality (PESQ) method specified by the ITU-T P.862 and the E-Modelspecified by the ITU-T G.107 in the prior art can perform such anoperation.

For the voice services, the following methods may be used to calculatethe service satisfaction ratio.

(1) If the MOS of a voice service exceeds a preset score, the voiceservice is regarded as satisfactory (i.e., satisfying). If the MOS of avoice service does not exceed a preset score, the voice service isregarded as unsatisfactory (i.e., unsatisfying). The preset score may bedetermined according to the actual need. Thus, the service satisfactionratio of voice services may be calculated by the following formula. Thatis, the service satisfaction ratio of the voice services is the ratio ofthe number of satisfying voice services to the total number of voiceservices.

Service satisfaction ratio of the voice service=(Number of satisfyingvoice services)/(Total number of voice services)

(2) A sum of weighted MOSs of each voice service may be obtainedaccording to the weight of each voice service. In this way, the servicesatisfaction ratio of the voice service is the ratio of the sum ofweighted MOSs of each voice service to the sum of weights of all voiceservices. For example, the formula may be as follows:

$S_{voice} = \frac{\sum\left( {W_{i} \times {MOS}_{i}} \right)}{\sum W_{i}}$

In this formula, S_(voice) indicates the service satisfaction ratio ofthe voice service, MOS_(i) indicates the MOS of the i^(th) voiceservice, and W_(i) indicates the weight of the i^(th) voice service.

(3) The user equipment (UE) reports whether the UE is satisfied with thecurrent voice service. Then, the service satisfaction ratio of the voiceservice is calculated according to the report of the UE. The report ofthe UE may include a parameter indicating whether a voice service issatisfying. In this way, the service satisfaction ratio of the voiceservices is the ratio of the number of satisfying voice services to thetotal number of voice service users. The formula may be as follows:

Service satisfaction ratio of the voice service=(Number of satisfyingvoice services)/(Total number of voice service users)

2. Streaming Service

Generally, the streaming services are video streaming services. Otherstreaming services may be processed in similar ways. In the prior art,the peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) is generally used to evaluate thequality of the streaming services. For the streaming service, thefollowing methods may be used to calculate the service satisfactionratio.

(1) If the PSNR reaches a preset numeric value, a streaming service isregarded as satisfying. If the PSNR does not reach a preset value, thestreaming service is regarded as unsatisfying. Thus, the servicesatisfaction ratio of the streaming service is the ratio of the numberof satisfying streaming services to the total number of streamingservices. For example,

Service satisfaction ratio of the streaming service=(Number ofsatisfying streaming services)/(Total number of streaming services)

The preset numeric value may be determined according to the actual need.

(2) A sum of weighted PSNRs of each streaming service may be determinedaccording to the weight of each streaming service. In this way, theservice satisfaction ratio of the streaming service is the ratio of thesum of weighted PSNRs of each streaming service to the sum of weights ofall streaming services. For example, the formula may be as follows:

$S_{video} = \frac{\sum\left( {W_{i} \times {PSNR}_{i}} \right)}{\sum W_{i}}$

In this formula, S_(video) indicates the service satisfaction ratio ofthe streaming service, PSNR_(i) indicates the PSNR of the i^(th)streaming service, and W_(i) indicates the weight of the i^(th)streaming service.

(3) The UE reports whether the UE is satisfied with the currentstreaming service. Then, the service satisfaction ratio of streamingservices is calculated according to the report of the UE. The report ofthe UE may include a parameter indicating whether a streaming service issatisfying. In this way, the service satisfaction ratio of the streamingservice is the ratio of the number of satisfying streaming services tothe total number of streaming service users. The formula may be asfollows:

Service satisfaction ratio of the streaming service=(Number ofsatisfying streaming services)/(Total number of streaming service users)

3. High Delay Sensitive Interactive Service

For the high delay sensitive interactive services, the following methodsmay be used to calculate the service satisfaction ratio.

(1) The high delay sensitive interactive services have high requirementsfor the delay, and the network also has time requirements for bufferingthe data packets of these services. If a data packet is not transmittedcorrectly within a specified time, the data packet may be dropped andnot retransmitted. The system may monitor a packet loss of a high delaysensitive interactive service. If the number of times of packet lossesexceeds K within a specified time period T before the admission judgmenttime, where the packet loss is due to timeout, the high delay sensitiveinteractive service is regarded as unsatisfying. If the number of timesof packet losses does not exceed K within a specified time period Tbefore the admission judgment time, the high delay sensitive interactiveservice is regarded as satisfying. T and K may be set according to thedelay tolerance of the actual services. In this way, the servicesatisfaction ratio of the high delay sensitive interactive service isthe ratio of the number of satisfying high delay sensitive interactiveservices to the total number of high delay sensitive interactiveservices. The formula may be as follows:

Service satisfaction ratio of the high delay sensitive interactiveservice=(Number of satisfying high delay sensitive interactiveservices)/(Total number of high delay sensitive interactive services)

(2) The UE reports whether the UE is satisfied with the current highdelay sensitive interactive service. Then, the service satisfactionratio of the high delay sensitive interactive service is calculatedaccording to the report of the UE. The report of the UE may include aparameter indicating whether a high delay sensitive interactive serviceis satisfying. In this way, the service satisfaction ratio of the highdelay sensitive interactive service is the ratio of the number ofsatisfying high delay sensitive interactive services to the total numberof high delay sensitive interactive service users. The formula may be asfollows:

Service satisfaction ratio of the high delay sensitive interactiveservice=(Number of satisfying high delay sensitive interactiveservices)/(Total number of high delay sensitive interactive serviceusers)

4. GBR Service

Each GBR service has a GBR property, namely, a bit rate that must beguaranteed. Thus, each service with a GBR property is also called a GBRservice. For the GBR services, the following methods may be used tocalculate the service satisfaction ratio.

(1) The service satisfaction ratio of the GBR service is determinedaccording to the weighted average of service dissatisfaction ratio ofGBR services. For example,

$S_{GBR} = {{100\%} - \frac{\sum\left( {W_{i} \times \frac{D_{i}}{{GBR}_{i}}} \right)}{\sum W_{i}}}$

In this formula, S_(GBR) indicates the service satisfaction ratio of theGBR service (in percentage), D_(i) indicates the GBR difference ofnon-empty GBR services in the i^(th) buffer queue, GBR_(i) indicates theGBR of the i^(th) GBR service, and W_(i) indicates the weights ofnon-empty GBR services in the i^(th) buffer queue. In this method,service dissatisfaction ratio (i.e., the ratio of the GBR difference tothe GBR) of each GBR service that has data to be transmitted iscalculated. Then the weighted average of service dissatisfaction ratioof GBR services is obtained. Then the service satisfaction ratio of theGBR services is obtained.

D_(i) can be calculated by using the following formula:

$D_{i} = \left\{ \begin{matrix}{0,{R_{i} \geq {GBR}_{i}}} \\{{{GBR}_{i} - R_{i}},{R_{i} < {GBR}_{i}}}\end{matrix} \right.$

In this formula, R_(i) indicates the throughput rate of the i^(th) GBRservice measured within a period of time. That is, when the throughputrate of a GBR service measured within a period of time is greater thanor equal to the GBR, the GBR service is regarded as satisfying, and theGBR difference is 0. When the throughput rate of a GBR service measuredwithin a period of time is smaller than the GBR, the GBR difference isobtained according to the method provided in embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

(2) If the throughput rate of a GBR service within a period of time isgreater than or equal to the GBR, the GBR service is regarded assatisfying. If the throughput rate of the GBR services within a periodof time is smaller than the GBR, the GBR service is regarded asunsatisfying. Thus, the service satisfaction ratio of the GBR service isthe ratio of the number of satisfying GBR services to the total numberof GBR services. The formula may be as follows:

Service satisfaction ratio of the GBR service=(Number of satisfying GBRservices)/(Total number of GBR services)

(3) The UE reports whether the UE is satisfied with the current GBRservice. Then, the service satisfaction ratio of the GBR service iscalculated according to the report of the UE. The report of the UE mayinclude a parameter indicating whether a GBR service is satisfying. Inthis way, the service satisfaction ratio of the GBR service is the ratioof the number of satisfying GBR services to the total number of GBRservice users. The formula may be as follows:

Service satisfaction ratio of the GBR service=(Number of satisfying GBRservices)/(Total number of GBR service users)

5. Best Effort Service

A best effort service is the service which may obtain service when thereare idle resources in the system. The best effort service has no delayrequirement and GBR requirement. For the convenience of qualityevaluation, a minimum bit rate (MinBR) is used, and the MinBR≠0. TheMinBR means that at least the MinBR is provided for each best effortservice when all the best effort services have data to be transmitted.In this case, a best effort service is satisfying. For the best effortservices, the following methods may be used to calculate the servicesatisfaction ratio.

(1) When the average rate of all the best effort services with datatransmission requirements exceeds the MinBR, the service satisfactionratio is 100%. When the average rate of all the best effort serviceswith data transmission requirements does not exceed the MinBR, theservice satisfaction ratio is the ratio of the average rate to theMinBR. The service satisfaction ratio of the best effort service may beobtained by using the following formula:

$S_{{Non}\text{-}{GBR}}\left\{ \begin{matrix}{{100\%},{{\sum R_{i}} \geq {{Min}\; {BR} \times {Sum}_{{Non}\text{-}{GBR}}}}} \\{\frac{\sum R_{i}}{{Min}\; {BR} \times {Sum}_{{Non}\text{-}{GBR}}},{{\sum R_{i}} < {{Min}\; {BR} \times {Sum}_{{Non}\text{-}{GBR}}}}}\end{matrix} \right.$

In this formula, S_(Non-GBR) indicates the service satisfaction ratio ofthe best effort service, R_(i) indicates the throughput rate ofnon-empty best effort services in the i^(th) buffer queue measuredwithin a period of time, and S_(Non-GBR) indicates the total number ofnon-empty best effort services in a buffer queue.

(2) If the throughput rate of a best effort service is greater than orequal to the MinBR within a period of time, the best effort service issatisfying. If the throughput rate of a best effort service is smallerthan the MinBR within a period of time, the best effort service isunsatisfying. In this way, the service satisfaction ratio of the besteffort services is the ratio of the number of satisfying best effortservices to the total number of best effort services. The formula may beas follows:

Service satisfaction ratio of the best effort service=(Number ofsatisfying best effort services)/(Total number of best effort services)

(3) The UE reports whether the UE is satisfied with the current besteffort service. Then, the service satisfaction ratio of the best effortservice is calculated according to the report of the UE. The report ofthe UE may include a parameter indicating whether a best effort servicesis satisfying. In this way, the service satisfaction ratio of the besteffort services is the ratio of the number of satisfying best effortservices to the total number of best effort service users. The formulamay be as follows:

Service satisfaction ratio of the best effort service=(Number ofsatisfying best effort services)/(Total number of best effort serviceusers)

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for admission control in the radiocommunications system in another embodiment of the present disclosure.

S201: Check system resource utilization.

For example, when a new service or a handover service initiates a callrequest, the system resource utilization is first checked. The systemresource utilization may be roughly calculated in the case of lowaccuracy requirements or accurately calculated in the case of highaccuracy requirements. The admission judgment is performed according tothe check result. If the system resource utilization is smaller than apreset first threshold, the current resource utilization is low and thenew service or the handover service can be directly admitted. If thesystem resource utilization is greater than or equal to the preset firstthreshold, S202 is executed.

It should be noted that step S201 is not mandatory. That is, step S201is optional and may be omitted, and the admission control process canstarts directly from step S202. When there are only few users in thesystem and these users are not satisfied due to poor quality of thechannel, step S201 may be executed to avoid service rejection due to atoo low service satisfaction ratio.

S202: Determine the QoS type of the service.

In this step, when a new service or a handover service initiates a callrequest, the QoS type of the new service or the handover service may bedetermined according to a previous classification result. As mentionedabove, all the services supported in the radio communications system maybe classified into five types according to the QoS properties of theservices, namely, voice service, streaming service, high delay sensitiveinteractive service, GBR service, and best effort service. The QoS typesof services may be stored in a table or a list or other forms. In thisembodiment, the QoS type is regarded as a parameter and represented by amapping table. Because the QoS property is carried in the servicerequest initiated by the user, the QoS type of the service may bedetermined directly according to the mapping table.

S203: Perform admission control on the service according to the servicesatisfaction ratio of services that belong to the determined QoS type.

The service satisfaction ratio is determined according to thedetermination result in step S202. The service satisfaction ratio may becalculated with reference to the description mentioned in the embodimentwhich is illustrated by FIG. 1. For example, if it is determined thatthe QoS type of the new service or the handover service is voice servicein step S202, any of the preceding calculation methods may be selectedto determine the service satisfaction ratio of the voice service. Thedetermined service satisfaction ratio is then compared with a presetadmission threshold. If the service satisfaction ratio is greater thanor equal to the preset admission threshold, the service is admitted. Ifthe service satisfaction ratio is lower than the preset admissionthreshold, the service is rejected.

For the new service and the handover service, the same or differentadmission thresholds may be adopted. For example, the admissionthreshold of the handover service may be set to be lower than theadmission threshold of the new service. That is, for the services of thesame QoS type, there may be a scenario where the handover service isadmitted but the new service is rejected. In this way, the handoverservice may be preferably admitted.

In addition, different admission thresholds may be used for serviceswith different priorities. For example, the admission threshold of agold user (having a high priority) may be set to be lower than that of acopper user (having a low priority). That is, for the services of thesame QoS type, there may be a scenario where the gold service isadmitted but the copper service is rejected. In this way, it can beguaranteed that services with higher priorities may be easily admitted,so that services may be differentiated according to differentpriorities.

Now the process of admission control on the new service or handoverservice is completed. From the perspective of compatibility, a resourcelimitation indication may also be received from other modules during theadmission control on the basis of preceding embodiments. When a resourcelimitation indication (e.g., a license limitation indication) isreceived, the new service or handover service may not be admitted evenif the service satisfaction ratio is 100%.

The admission control method in this embodiment is applicable to theradio communications system using a sharing technology such as LTE, highspeed packet access (HSPA+) of the WCDMA, worldwide interoperability formicrowave access (WiMAX), and ultra mobile broadband (UMB) systems.

By using the method for admission control in the radio communicationssystem in this embodiment, admission control is performed on the newservice or handover service according to the service satisfaction ratioof services that belong to different QoS types. Thus, complex andinaccurate calculations of resource utilization are avoided whichcomplies with the end-to-end QoS guarantee concept, and the parameterconfiguration is simplified. In addition, the admission controlalgorithm may be independent of lower layer algorithms (e.g., powercontrol and scheduling algorithms), and any change of the lower layeralgorithms may not affect the implementation of the admission controlalgorithm, thereby simplifying the development and maintenance of theadmission control algorithm. Further, the complex and inaccuratepredications are avoided, and the network performance may be bettermonitored, which makes the admission control algorithm more pervasivefor the operators.

FIG. 3 illustrates a structure of an apparatus for admission control ina radio communications system in an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The apparatus may include a determination unit 301 and anadmission control unit 302.

The determination unit 301 is configured to determine the QoS type of aservice that initiates a call request according to the QoS property ofthe service.

The admission control unit 302 is configured to determine the servicesatisfaction ratio of services that belong to the determined QoS typeaccording to a determination result of the determination unit 301,compare the service satisfaction ratio of services with an admissionthreshold, and perform admission control according to the comparisonresult. The service whose service satisfaction ratio is greater than orequal to the admission threshold is admitted.

Further, to avoid service rejection in a scenario where there are onlyfew users in the system and these users are unsatisfied due to the poorquality of the channel, an apparatus for admission control is providedin another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, theapparatus may include a determination unit 401, an admission controlunit 402, and a checking unit 403.

The determination unit 401 is configured to determine the QoS type of aservice that initiates a call request according to the QoS property ofthe service.

The admission control unit 402 is configured to determine the servicesatisfaction ratio of services that belong to the determined QoS typeaccording to the determination result of the determination unit 401,compare the service satisfaction ratio with an admission threshold, andperform admission control according to the comparison result. Theservice whose service satisfaction ratio is greater than or equal to theadmission threshold is admitted.

The checking unit 403 is configured to check the system resourceutilization.

When the checking unit 403 finds that the system resource utilization issmaller than a preset first threshold, the admission control unit 402admits the service directly. When the checking unit 403 finds that thesystem resource utilization is greater than or equal to the preset firstthreshold, the determination unit 401 and the admission control unit 402may be activated to perform admission control on the service thatinitiates the call request.

Additionally, considering the system compatibility, another embodimentprovides an apparatus for admission control. As shown in FIG. 5, theapparatus may include a determination unit 501, an admission controlunit 502, a checking unit 503, and a receiving unit 504.

The determination unit 501 is configured to determine the QoS type of aservice that initiates a call request according to the QoS property ofthe service.

The admission control unit 502 is configured to determine the servicesatisfaction ratio of services that belong to the determined QoS typeaccording to the determination result of the determination unit 501,compare the service satisfaction ratio with an admission threshold, andperform admission control according to the comparison result. Theservice whose service satisfaction ratio is greater than or equal to theadmission threshold is admitted.

The checking unit 503 is configured to check the system resourceutilization. When the checking unit 503 finds that the system resourceutilization is smaller than the preset first threshold, the admissioncontrol unit 502 admits the service directly. When the checking unit 503finds that the system resource utilization is greater than or equal tothe preset first threshold, the determination unit 501 and the admissioncontrol unit 502 may be activated to perform admission control on theservice that initiates the call request.

The receiving unit 504 is configured to receive a resource limitationindication.

When the receiving unit 504 receives a resource limitation indication,for example, a license limitation indication, the new service or thehandover service cannot be admitted even if the service satisfactionratio is 100%. That is, the admission control unit 502 rejects theservice directly.

It should be noted that in this embodiment, the apparatus may notinclude the checking unit 503, that is, the checking unit 503 isoptional. As shown in FIG. 6, the apparatus for admission controlprovided in another embodiment of the present disclosure may include adetermination unit 601, an admission control unit 602, and a checkingunit 603.

The determination unit 601 is configured to determine the QoS type of aservice that initiates a call request according to the QoS property ofthe service.

The admission control unit 602 is configured to determine the servicesatisfaction ratio of services that belong to the determined QoS typeaccording to the determination result of the determination unit 601,compare the service satisfaction ratio with an admission threshold, andperform admission control according to the comparison result. Theservice whose service satisfaction ratio is greater than or equal to theadmission threshold is admitted.

The receiving unit 603 is configured to receive a resource limitationindication.

When the receiving unit 603 receives the resource limitation indication,for example, a license limitation indication, the new service or thehandover service cannot be admitted even if the service satisfactionratio is 100%. That is, the admission control unit 602 rejects theservice directly.

The preceding apparatus for admission control may be set in a RadioResource Management (RRM) entity, and the resource limitation indicationis generally sent from other modules of the RRM entity, for example, aresource allocating module.

By using the method and apparatus for admission control in embodimentsof the present disclosure, admission control is performed on the newservice or handover service according to the service satisfaction ratioof different QoS types. Thus, complex and inaccurate calculations ofresource utilization are avoided, which complies with the end-to-end QoSguarantee concept, and the parameter configuration is simplified. Inaddition, the admission control algorithm may be independent of lowerlayer algorithms (for example, power control and scheduling algorithms),and any change of the lower layer algorithms may not affect theimplementation of the admission control algorithm, thereby simplifyingthe development and maintenance of the admission control algorithm.Further, the complex and inaccurate predications are avoided, and thenetwork performance may be better monitored, which makes the admissioncontrol algorithm more pervasive for the operators.

It is understandable to those skilled in the art that all or part of thesteps in the preceding embodiments may be implemented by relatedhardware (e.g., a processor) instructed by a program such as a computerprogram. The program may be stored in a readable storage medium such asa non-transitory computer readable storage medium. When the programruns, the following steps of the method are executed: determining theQoS type of a service, determining the service satisfaction ratio ofservices that belong to the determined QoS type, and admitting servicewhose service satisfaction ratio is greater than or equal to theadmission threshold; or checking system resource utilization,determining the QoS type of a service, and performing admission controlon the service according to the service satisfaction ratio of servicesthat belong to the determined QoS type.

In addition, a resource limitation indication may be received from othermodules. When a resource limitation indication (for example, a licenselimitation indication) is received, the new service or handover servicemay not be admitted even if the service satisfaction ratio is 100%. Thereadable medium may be a read-only memory/random access memory(ROM/RAM), a magnetic disk, or a compact disk.

Various modifications and variations can be made to the disclosurewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure by thoseskilled in the art. Therefore, the disclosure is intended to cover allthese modifications and variations provided that they fall within thescope of the claims appended to the disclosure and their equivalents.

1. A method for admission control in a radio communications system,comprising: determining a quality of service (QoS) type of a serviceaccording to a QoS property of the service; determining a servicesatisfaction ratio of services that belong to the determined QoS typeaccording to a result of the determining the QoS type; comparing thedetermined service satisfaction ratio with an admission threshold; andadmitting the service if the determined service satisfaction ratio isgreater than or equal to the admission threshold.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein the QoS type comprises at least one of the following: voiceservice, streaming service, high delay sensitive interactive service,guaranteed bit rate (GBR) service, or best effort service.
 3. The methodof claim 2, wherein when the QoS type of the service is the voiceservice, the step of determining the service satisfaction ratiocomprises: determining that the service satisfaction ratio of voiceservice is a ratio of the number of satisfying voice services to thetotal number of voice services, wherein a voice service whose meanopinion score (MOS) is greater than a preset score is determined as asatisfying voice service.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein when the QoStype of the service is the voice service, the step of determining theservice satisfaction ratio comprises: determining that the servicesatisfaction ratio of voice service is a ratio of a sum of weighted MOSof each voice service to a sum of weights of all voice services, whereinthe sum of weighted MOS of each voice service is determined according toa weight of each voice service.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein whenthe QoS type of the service is the voice service, the step ofdetermining the service satisfaction ratio comprises: calculating theservice satisfaction ratio according to a report from a user equipment(UE), the report including a parameter indicating whether a voiceservice is satisfying, where the service satisfaction ratio of voiceservice is a ratio of the number of satisfying voice services to thetotal number of voice service users.
 6. The method of claim 2, whereinwhen the QoS type of the service is the streaming service, the step ofdetermining the service satisfaction ratio comprises: determining thatthe service satisfaction ratio of streaming service is calculating aratio of the number of satisfying streaming services to the total numberof streaming services, wherein a service whose peak signal to noiseratio (PSNR) reaches a preset numeric value is determined as asatisfying streaming service.
 7. The method of claim 2, wherein when theQoS type of the service is the streaming service, the step ofdetermining the service satisfaction ratio comprises: determining thatthe service satisfaction ratio of streaming service is a ratio of a sumof weighted PSNR of each streaming service to a sum of weights of allstreaming services, wherein the sum of weighted PSNR of each streamingservice is determined according to a weight of each streaming service.8. The method of claim 2, wherein when the QoS type of the service isthe streaming service, the step of determining the service satisfactionratio comprises: calculating the service satisfaction ratio according toa report from a user equipment (UE), wherein the report includes aparameter indicating whether a streaming service is satisfying, and theservice satisfaction ratio of streaming service is a ratio of the numberof satisfying streaming services to the total number of streamingservice users.
 9. The method of claim 2, wherein when the QoS type ofthe service is the high delay sensitive interactive service, the step ofdetermining the service satisfaction ratio comprises: determining thatthe service satisfaction ratio is a ratio of the number of satisfyinghigh delay sensitive interactive services to the total number of highdelay sensitive interactive services, wherein if the number of times ofpacket loss of service does not exceed a preset value within a specifiedtime period before an admission judgment time where each packet lossbeing due to timeout, a service is determined as a satisfying high delaysensitive interactive service.
 10. The method of claim 2, wherein whenthe QoS type of the service is the high delay sensitive interactiveservice, the step of determining the service satisfaction ratiocomprises: calculating the service satisfaction ratio according to areport from a user equipment (UE), wherein the report includes aparameter indicating whether a high delay sensitive interactive servicesis satisfying, the service satisfaction ratio being a ratio of thenumber of satisfying high delay sensitive interactive services to thetotal number of high delay sensitive interactive service users.
 11. Themethod of claim 2, wherein when the QoS type of the service is the GBRservice, the step of determining the service satisfaction ratiocomprises: determining the service satisfaction ratio according to aweighted average of service dissatisfaction ratio of GBR services. 12.The method of claim 2, wherein when the QoS type of the service is theGBR service, the step of determining the service satisfaction ratiocomprises: determining that the service satisfaction ratio is a ratio ofthe number of satisfying GBR services to the total number of GBRservices, wherein a service whose throughput rate is greater than orequal to a GBR within a preset time period is determined as a satisfyingGBR service.
 13. The method of claim 2, wherein when the QoS type of theservice is the GBR service, the step of determining the servicesatisfaction ratio comprises: calculating the service satisfaction ratioaccording to a report from a user equipment (UE), wherein the reportincludes a parameter indicating whether a GBR service is satisfying, andthe service satisfaction ratio is a ratio of the number of satisfyingGBR services to the total number of GBR service users.
 14. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the step of determining the service satisfaction ratioaccording to a weighted average of service dissatisfaction ratio of GBRservices comprises:$S_{GBR} = {{100\%} - \frac{\sum\left( {W_{i} \times \frac{D_{i}}{{GBR}_{i}}} \right)}{\sum W_{i}}}$wherein S_(GBR) indicates the service satisfaction ratio of the GBRservices, D_(i) indicates a GBR difference of non-empty GBR services inan i^(th) buffer queue, GBR_(i) indicates a GBR of the i^(th) GBRservice, and W_(i) indicates weights of non-empty GBR services in thei^(th) buffer queue,$\frac{\sum\left( {W_{i} \times \frac{D_{i}}{{GBR}_{i}}} \right)}{\sum W_{i}}$indicates a total dissatisfaction ratio of the GBR service upon weightedaveraging, and the Di is calculated by $D_{i} = \left\{ \begin{matrix}{0,{R_{i} \geq {GBR}_{i}}} \\{{{GBR}_{i} - R_{i}},{R_{i} < {{GBR}_{i}.}}}\end{matrix} \right.$
 15. The method of claim 2, wherein when the QoStype of the service is the best effort service, the step of determiningthe service satisfaction ratio comprises: when an average bit rate ofall best effort services with data transmission requirements exceeds aminimum bit rate (MinBR), determining that the service satisfactionratio is 100% and when the average bit rate of all the best effortservices with data transmission requirements does not exceed the MinBR,determining that the service satisfaction ratio is a ratio of theaverage bit rate to the MinBR.
 16. The method of claim 2, wherein whenthe QoS type of the service is the best effort service, the step ofdetermining the service satisfaction ratio comprises: determining thatthe service satisfaction ratio is a ratio of the number of satisfyingbest effort services to the total number of best effort services,wherein a service whose throughput rate within a preset time period isgreater than or equal to a minimum bit rate (MinBR) is determined as asatisfying best effort service.
 17. The method of claim 2, wherein whenthe QoS type of the service is the best effort service, the step ofdetermining the service satisfaction ratio comprises: calculating theservice satisfaction ratio according to a report with a parameter from auser equipment (UE), wherein the parameter indicates whether a besteffort services is satisfying, and the service satisfaction ratio is aratio of the number of satisfying best effort services to the totalnumber of best effort service users.
 18. The method of claim 1, whereindifferent admission thresholds are adopted for services that belong to asame QoS type but having different priorities.
 19. The method of claim1, wherein the service is a new service or a handover service.
 20. Themethod of claim 19, wherein the admission threshold of the handoverservice is smaller than that of the new service.
 21. The method of claim1, before the step of determining the QoS type, the method furthercomprising: checking system resource utilization, wherein when thesystem resource utilization is smaller than a first threshold, admittingthe service that initiates the call request directly and when the systemresource utilization is greater than or equal to the first threshold,turning to the step of determining the QoS type and admitting theservice according to the determined service satisfaction ratio.
 22. Themethod of claim 1, the method further comprising: rejecting the serviceif a resource limitation indication is received.
 23. An apparatus foradmission control in a radio communications system, comprising: adetermination unit configured to determine a quality of service (QoS)type of a service that initiates a call request according to a QoSproperty of the service; and an admission control unit configured todetermine a service satisfaction ratio of services that belong to thedetermined QoS type according to a result of the determination unit,compare the determined service satisfaction ratio with an admissionthreshold, and admit the service if the service satisfaction ratio isgreater than or equal to the admission threshold.
 24. The apparatus ofclaim 23, the apparatus further comprising: a checking unit configuredto check system resource utilization; and when the checking unit findsthat the system resource utilization is smaller than a first threshold,the admission control unit admits the service directly and when thechecking unit finds that the system resource utilization is greater thanor equal to the first threshold, the determination unit and theadmission control unit are activated to perform admission control on theservice.
 25. The apparatus of claim 23, the apparatus furthercomprising: a receiving unit, configured to receive a resourcelimitation indication; and if the receiving unit receives the resourcelimitation indication, the admission control unit rejects the service.26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the apparatus is set in a radioresource management entity.